“Sing[ing] of the Middle Way:” Michael McClure’s Venture for a New Mode of Thought Between Science and Mysticism
Stefan Benz
Current objectives of postgraduate American studies January 14, 2018 DOI: 10.5283/copas.291 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Key points | Argues that McClure's poem 'Double Moire for Francis Crick' uses the moiré effect to model a productive relationship between natural science and Chinese and Japanese mystical traditions. The article contends that the poem does not synthesize these perspectives but overlays them, creating a third combined structure 'between' science and mysticism that aligns insights from both and challenges established ways of producing knowledge. |
Abstract
This article examines the epistemological concerns of Michael McClure’s poem “Double Moire for Francis Crick” (2010). Beyond showcasing McClure’s persistent interest in the natural sciences as well as in the Chinese and Japanese mystical traditions, this poem lyrically appropriates the physical phenomenon of the moiré effect and thereby exemplifies how a cooperation between these different modes of thought is profitable and necessary to reform established ways of knowledge production. Via a close reading of the poem’s borrowings from paleontology, microbiology, evolutionary biology, and its appropriations of Taoism and Zen Buddhism, this article discusses the dimensions and scope of McClure’s epistemological endeavor. Significantly, “Double Moire for Francis Crick” does not synthesize the two presented perspectives into one but overlays these to create a third combined structure which is ‘between’ the original structures of natural science and mysticism, allowing for a combination and alignment of insight produced in either mode of thought.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy | 1993 | Edited collection of essays | |
| Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |